Court fines miner, service company for illegal Ring of Fire camp

A junior miner and a mining services company were heavily fined for building an illegal exploration camp in the Ring of Fire.

Vancouver-based Fancamp Exploration and Webequie Logistics were fined $10,000 and $5,000 respectively in an Ontario Court of Justice under the Public Lands Act.

Fancamp Explorations pleaded guilty and Webequie Logistics of Thunder Bay was found guilty of carrying out construction work without the authority of a work permit.The companies were fined $10,000 and $5,000 respectively. Webequie Logistics also found guilty of disobeying a stop work order and fined a further $5,000.

Webequie Logistics president Clayton Downton, of Thunder Bay, and director Samuel Lappage, of Cochrane, Alb. were found guilty, and fined $2,000 and $2,500 respectively, for carrying out construction work without a work permit. Lappage was also fined $2,500 for disobeying a stop work order.

The cases were heard in Thunder Bay by Justice of the Peace Robert Michels last June 5 and Justice of the Peace Ray Zuliani on November 24 and February 5.

The court heard that Fancamp contracted Webequie Logistics to build and service a mining camp on the junior mining company’s claims, located on the north shore of Koper Lake, 350 kilometres north of Geraldton, in the Ring of Fire area.

Between October and December 2010, the Ministry of Natural Resources informed Webequie Logistics several times that a work permit was required for construction.

An investigation confirmed that the company continued construction without a work permit and in contravention of a stop work order. Under the authority of a work permit, Fancamp Explorations later cleaned up the site prior to its court date.